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BlackDahlia’s TAC 2014 Log French German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| blackdahlia Pro Member United States Joined 4727 days ago 64 posts - 66 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, French Personal Language Map | Message 1 of 36 29 December 2011 at 6:26am | IP Logged |
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I'm excited to be part of this TAC. I've been doing a lot of research (maybe too much) to lay out a plan.
2012, I intend to focus on French. I would like to learn German at some point, but I think that needs to be put off for a while. I took French in high school and a few college classes, but it's been a while. I remember more than I thought, so I'd probably rate myself about A2 level, maybe a little higher at reading. I've always been better at reading/writing but speaking/comprehension has always been my weak spot. I'm great at making plans, not so great at follow-through (really, I just get easily distracted and keep trying to make better plans so that nothing gets accomplished). I also intend to go back to school, either this summer or in the fall, so I want to set up a system that I can continue through the year. I'm taking advice that I've read on the forum and so will be using the following plan. Jan - Mar -Pimsleur I-III (these I can listen to on my way to and from work) -BBC's 12 week Talk French course in the evenings+ Apr - Jun -Continue on to FSI (at least Vol 1) Jul - Sep -Assimil French (I'm guessing here, I don't know how long Assimil takes) Oct - Dec -TBD Year Round -Use the French in Action videos and complete 1 each weekend. -Spend time listening to news, music, radio and reading short pieces in the TL -Use textbooks and other grammar resources for technical understanding I don't know if it makes sense to go through all of FSI and then all of Assimil. Or if I should do FSI Vol 1 and then French with Ease, FSI Vol 2, then Assimil Using French. Since this is my first time doing this, we shall see what works and what doesn't. Feel free to comment, give advice, nudges if I'm slipping :) I'm looking forward to reading the logs and seeing our progress. Edited by blackdahlia on 28 December 2013 at 3:11am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| blackdahlia Pro Member United States Joined 4727 days ago 64 posts - 66 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 36 29 December 2011 at 7:25am | IP Logged |
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Almost forgot about the BBC courses. I'm adding their basic 12 week course to phase 1. Between that and Pimsleur, it should help give me a good base. I like the look of their video Ma French for intermediates. I doubt I'll devote the time to go through it formally, but it might be good to go to occasionally. Edited by blackdahlia on 29 December 2011 at 5:10pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5393 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 36 29 December 2011 at 3:55pm | IP Logged |
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It might make more sense to do them together. Assimil will probably take 5-6 months, unless you move faster than they advise. The two are very different in their approaches, and it might be beneficial to use them together.
If you've gone through all three levels of Pimsleur, both the FSI and Assimil courses should solidify things and fill in gaps, but you will probably work through them rather quickly. Then you can move on to native materials and have much more fun learning that way. =) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| blackdahlia Pro Member United States Joined 4727 days ago 64 posts - 66 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 36 29 December 2011 at 5:02pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks Kerrie
I'll give that a try, especially if I can do FSI primarily in the car, I can probably carve an additional 30 min most evenings to Assimil 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4887 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 5 of 36 29 December 2011 at 8:46pm | IP Logged |
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I'm a planner too - I keep doing them, even though they rarely work out the way I
thought they would. And your French plan looks amazingly like the one I tried last year - same material, and a similar order! I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out for you! I agree with everyone that you doing multiple courses at the same time helps. I liked starting with Pimsleur (though I only did the first two), and then moved on to an FSI / Assimil combo. The good thing about FSI is that you can take breaks. With the others you pretty much have to finish the Level once you start. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| blackdahlia Pro Member United States Joined 4727 days ago 64 posts - 66 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 36 30 December 2011 at 4:11am | IP Logged |
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Thanks Kanewai. I actually saw your log as I was doing some research today. You've got some great notes.
------------------ I did Pimsleur Lesson 2 today as well as started with the BBC French Steps. It's really beginner level and some of it can be a little dull since its very basic stuff I know, but its good to listen to and let my ears get accustomed to French. Plus this way I can make sure I set a good foundation instead of skipping around and floundering. I actually enjoyed Pimsleur and I notice that it ended right about the time I was ready for it to be over, so that's good. At this point, I'm realizing I need jump in and adjust as I go along So here is my tweaked plan and I'm sticking with it unless something isn't working for me. Stage 1 -Morning: Pimsleur I & II (possibly III, I'll decide after II) -Evening: BBC's 12 week Talk French course (I doubt it will take 12 weeks, there are 24 units, I intend to do 1 each week day) Stage 2 -Morning: FSI Vol 1 -Evening: Assimil French with Ease Stage 3 -Morning: Maybe FSI Vol 2 or Pimsleur 3 -Evening: French grammar (I saw Schaum's recommended highly. I also have old textbooks) Stage 4 -Morning: FSI Vol 2 -Evening: Assimil Using French Year Round -Use the French in Action videos and complete 1 each weekend. -Spend time listening to news, music, radio and reading short pieces in the TL -Use textbooks and other grammar resources for technical understanding I was also thinking about doing some daily journaling in my TL. Nothing onerous, just a few paragraphs about whatever comes to mind to get used to producing and thinking in that language. Just free-writing and then making corrections the next day. Okay so that's it. I'm ordering French with Ease, Schaum's, FIA textbook, and a cd of French songs off Amazon, so hopefully it wont take long to ship. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| blackdahlia Pro Member United States Joined 4727 days ago 64 posts - 66 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 36 01 January 2012 at 10:02pm | IP Logged |
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I took a French proficiency test at http://www.transparent.com/learn-french/proficiency-test.htm l
I got a 43%. I would like to take it again at the end of the years and see how things have changed (hopefully for the better). Still, while 43% sucks, its not as bad as it could be I suppose Edited by blackdahlia on 02 January 2012 at 5:41am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| blackdahlia Pro Member United States Joined 4727 days ago 64 posts - 66 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French Personal Language Map | Message 8 of 36 05 January 2012 at 2:31am | IP Logged |
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I'm continuing to do Pimsleur on the car ride to work. I'm enjoying it b/c 1) I don't have the distraction of my internet and 2) we are finally getting into more interesting material than "Do you understand English?"
I'm also doing some Michel Thomas in the evening. I dont think I'm going to last very long on the basic BBC course. I might wait a little while and move on to the Intermediate, I liked the clips I saw and I think it will do lots to help my listening comprehension. I also got some nice surprises in the mail. 1) my teacher's wraparound edition of the textbook I ordered a little while ago. I think it will be helpful to me. 2) My new French with Ease! I am too excited!!! I'm also trying to get my hands on French without Toil as an additional resource. I might be starting Assimil earlier than I planned ETA: Discovered http://www.lyricstraining.com, Played two songs, this is hard! but fun and I'm discovering some great artists Edited by blackdahlia on 05 January 2012 at 3:30am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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